The Department Of Magical Resources
by London mist
Summary: (3 years Post war) Students completed their repeat year at Hogwarts and are now out and about working in the ever changing Wizarding World which is still rebuilding itself. Hermione opens up the first Department of Human Resources to bring equality to all magical beings. What happens when Draco is the lawyer tasked to help. Please Read !
1. Department of Magical Resources

Hi! This is my first fanfic hope you enjoy =)

Summary: 3 years Post war, most students went back to finish off their repeat year and are now out and about working in the ever changing Wizarding world which is still trying to rebuild itself. Hermione opens up the first ever Department of Human Resources (which she calls magical resources) in the Wizarding World located in the Ministry of magic, in order to bring equality to all species **cough cough labour rights for house elves** and to ensure safety and fairness for all magical beings in the new recuperating and growing magical work places. Draco is one of the Ministry's most prestigious lawyers and is tasked the job of approving (or disapproving) the new policies and regulations Hermione wishes to pass... Let the chaos ensue. (please review)

Kingsley crinkled his nose and rested his head in his palm. It was unbelievable the amount of stress and anxiety a petite, slim, 5'6" girl with charming innocent features, pouty lips and unruly warm brown hair could cause him. Did he regret hiring the brightest witch of their age as soon as he resumed his position as Minister after the war? No. Did he regret telling her she could do whatever she wanted in the Ministry no questions asked? Yes.

"Kingsley – you told me whatever I could do to help the ministry and improve our world that I could! This is my passion Kingsley. You cannot say that I haven't worked hard on this!" Hermione whispered exclaimed, her arms flailing about, her cheeks red with passion."

"I know Hermione and you have done excellent work really." Kingsley defended, "This 300 page proposal is really well written and you have made excellent points, however..."

"However..." Hermione challenged.

"It's just Human Resources is a completely foreign muggle business department," The most powerful man in the Wizarding community whispered cowering under the petite girls glare. "It would be a lot of work, hundreds of hours really, and you know how people feel about change especially with things just settling down from the war."

Kingsley regretted muttering the word 'war' the second he saw Hermione eyes flash.

"With all due respect Minister," Hermione hissed, "This is what the war accomplished. It allows a chance for peace, equality, policies, regulations and guidelines. Do you know how hard it is to find even one book on work equality and policies? I have checked thousands it barely exists! I won't stop working until every magical being has rights and safe place to report any misdemeanors or concerns too!"

"Hermione I agree..." Kingsley said already feeling the copious amount of anxiety designing a whole new department would create. "You have my blessing, the law department will be at your disposal, effective starting tomorrow. Please report to the auror/law empty wing on the 7th floor tomorrow at 8 a.m. to get started."

A grin broke across the beautiful, strong girls face. "Thank you Minister."

Jack Grant adjusted his expensive tie as he reviewed the stack of cases just dumped on the desk of his law firm which worked solely for the Ministry. He prided himself on knowing they were the hardest working lawyers with a reputation of being the best in town. Just when a rare smile was about to cross over the old purebloods face, a flying golden memo from the Minister came to a screeching halt in front of him. It is only 7:45 what could possibly have happened already that involved the Minister? He let his eyes scan briefly over the memo... new department...volumes of laws and policies... skilled lawyer needed... Granger war heroine... empty wing of their floor..8 a.m.. He knew he wouldn't be able to take on the job himself as it would require complete attention for weeks, possibly months, but it definitely needed to be assigned to a talented lawyer, someone who could uphold their honour and had enough intelligence to keep up with the Granger girl. He let his eyes wander over his employees when he caught the piercing gaze of sharp steel grey eyes. Hmmm he thought to himself. The young boy whose gaze he currently held was an over achiever, smart, quick with a lot to prove. He has a lot of work ethic and beneath his cold exterior Grant knew he had a good heart, even if the boy tried to hide it. Perfect.

"Draco!," Grant huffed. "Get your ass over here! I've got a job for you."


	2. The Seventh Floor

I immediately stood when I heard my old boss grunt out my name. Stopping only to gracefully fix the creases in my custom made suit. I may have jumped up at Grants beck and call but I'll be damned if I didn't walk over slowly. I'm a Malfoy after all, he thought to himself. I took in Grants appearance as I leisurely strolled over; heavy build grey blue eyes with a thick neck and strong large hands. Grant reminded me of my father in ways. He had a demeanour and aura of power that could intimidate anyone with a half a brain to recognize it. He had a strong mind for business and was a very successful wealthy man but he also had a wealth of things my father lacked, a heart being the most prominent difference between the two men and a conscious. Behind his tough exterior Grant was a good man with a good soul. He had a wife and three kids and despite his appearance was an amazing family man. I admired and looked up to him in many ways, I never said it out loud but I worked like a mad man for endless hours under his direction. It embarrasses me to admit it but I want to impress him... maybe even be like him. Sometimes I think I can have what he has but I also fear my soul may be too tainted by the past. I sighed and let the thoughts go from my mind as I reached his desk.

"Draco," Grant said in a tone that suggested he was about to reveal something big. "You see those empty hallways there just to the left of the auror offices?"

I swiftly turned my neck to observe the state of my floor. It looked like the same old seventh floor to me It was shaped like a long oval with floors made out of marble. At one end of the oval contained our law firm. We only took up the tip of the oval not because we were unimportant but because there was only an elite few. The insides of our office contained an extension of the marble floors from the hall but the desks and book shelves were a beautiful mahogany wood. It was a classy design as we only entertained expensive clients including the Minister himself. Directly to my left were the auror offices. They took up the entire left side of the long oval shaped floor and contained strategy rooms and work cubicles. Just as I looked over I saw Potter, Blaise and the Weasel emerge from their auror offices laughing together. They cut across the oval and crossed over to the large gymnasium which took up the large part of the right side of the floor. The gym was a perk for everyone on the seventh floor but mostly used for auror training.

"Eh Draco want to come for an ass whooping?!" Blaise yelled teasingly as he spotted him through the open glass door of Grants office.

"No thanks some of us have real work to do!" I retorted

Potter just laughed and waved while Weaslebee jokingly rubbed his fists together in an attempt to look tough. It may appear weird that two thirds of the Golden Trio and I could act civil towards each other and it wasn't always that way. In fact the summer after the war when people from the Order of Pheonix volunteered to rebuild the school they were known to pleased to see me come around. A lot of people tried to attack me verbally and physically and I just let them. I was too tired to fight and I had honestly thought I deserved it. Then one day when a group of particular nasty girls were whispering rude things about me loudly to get me wound up Potter walked over and shut them all up. It was ironic that after everything my family and I had done to him he was the one to approach me. We had a conversation that I'll never forget. He was the first person outside of Blaise and a rare few others that I thought understood that you can't chose your family and that maybe I made the wrong choices all for them. After that moment things slowly improved until most of the students in the school could at least be civil with one another.

I snapped out of my thoughts and brought back to the present as I felt Grants eyes on me. I let my eyes wander past the gym past the elevator lift over to the other tip of the oval that contained empty space. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary there and I chuckled to myself as I looked slightly past the empty offices to the ridiculous poles Potter had the department put in. When Potter became one of the top aurors he demanded the floor have at least three exits. So now not only did our floor have an elevator lift, it also had a large spiraling staircase that was inbetween the law and auror offices which could be used to go up and down floors, but we also had two of what Potter explained was a muggle "firemans" pole to the left. One pole went all the way down to the first floor and the other pole went down to the main cafeteria even though our floor had a tiny make shift kitchen with a couple tables for all of us. It was more of a floor joke then anything seriously used for auror business.

"I don't see anything special sir," I said.

"Well you see Draco those empty offices are going to be filled soon with a new department." Grant said effectively sparking my interest.

"Really what are they creating?" I asked.

"No name for you yet, but they told me they needed a talented intelligent lawyer to work through all the legalities of starting the department up. Someone sharp enough to not only approve and disapprove law but to actually create new laws for the ministry. This is going down in the history of the Wizarding World." Grant said profoundly. "And that somebody is you Draco."

My mouth fell open I did not know what to say.

"I I I..." I stuttered.

"Shut it Draco stop stuttering like a common knight bus driver before I change my mind. The position is yours effective immediately. Now I suggest you go make the finest tea you can in that shitty little cafeteria of ours and walk yourself over to the empty rooms and meet your new partner."

"Thank you" I said still honoured and shocked at what Grant had done for me and I went and grabbed a tea one milk two sugars and walked over the ugly brown empty offices.

I went over in my head as to how I would introduce myself. This opportunity did not come commonly to just a 20 year old like myself. I put on my Malfoy charm. It's not like me to get nervous anyways I must be hanging out with Potter too much for all this humble mumbo jumbo to be running through my mind.

I smirked my trade mark smirk. Ahh much better. I opened the rickety old wooden door that had yet to be refurbished and stood flabbergasted at what I saw.

Behind a large old wooden desk sat a tiny little house elf who was wearing ridiculously large glasses and a poorly knitted beanie on her head.

"Ahh are you here to see Misses?" The tiny house elf squeaked. It rose out of its chair and I stared at it with a mixture of confusion and laughter playing on my face because the tiny thing was wearing a small business suit. Is this a joke?

The house elf quickly grabbed the tea from my hand. "I am Booky and this tea must be for Misses I will give it to her now have a seat."

I looked back across the floor at the law firm and back at the rickety old wooden chair Booky invited me to sit in. Is this some kind of joke Grant is playing on me? Well if so I will stay here and I will definitely have the last word. No one pranks a Malfoy not even Grant!

"Mmm one milk two sugars just how I love it" I heard an alluring and somewhat familiar female voice say. I craned my neck to try and peek through the mess of drywall to see whom the attractive voice belonged too. I leaned forward in my chair to get a better angle when I heard a little creek in the blasted old chair! Next thing you know I'm face down on this dirty old floor mucking up my expensive suit! I groaned someone is going to play for this.

"Well hello there," I heard the soft attractive voice say. How embarrassing. I looked slightly up as a small hand reached out towards me to give me a lift. My eyes travelled from the petite hand up her wrist and scanned over a very familiar looking scar. Mudblood. I let my face fall back to the ground and inwardly groaned to myself. This was going to be a long day.


	3. Tea and Spats

I felt slightly dejected as the tall, broad shouldered blonde rejected my hand and pulled himself up making a huge show of dusting himself off.

"What in Merlin's beard are you doing grudging up a mess in these blasted old office spaces?" The Blonde man with piercing grey eyes spat. Oh I knew those eyes.

"Malfoy?" I exclaimed. "What in the world are YOU doing here?"

"Well if you must know I've been promoted by my boss to help turn this dump into a new department. Probably will go down in Wizarding history," Malfoy said as he began strutting around my office like he owned the damn place. He threw his briefcase onto my desk, grabbed the tea out of my hand and began fingering one of my many knitted hats I made for any visiting house elves. I watched him idly in shock unable to do anything as my blood started to boil.

"Give me that!" I snapped, grabbing the knitted hat with one hand and gripping the tea in the other. "Thats my tea Booky made it for me and I'm going to drink it!"

"No Granger actually I made it and seeing as you were probably sent here to do my bidding I will drink it." The arrogant blonde stated effectively pulling Hermione's hand and the tea cup towards him. He then had the audacity to challenge the stubborn brunette with a raise of his eyebrow.

"I am the Director and head of this department and you are probably here to work for me!" Hermione shouted pulling the drink and Malfoy's arm towards herself with much force.

Unfortunately the word director and implication that a Malfoy would ever work under Granger had him so caught off guard he had placed no effort into resisting the tea grab the crazy little bint had just made. He promptly felt himself brought back to reality as he was crashing towards the ground for a second time, only this time he had Granger underneath him.

His face was less than half an inch from her face but he was too upset and mortified to move.

"How dare you imply I work beneath you!" Draco yelled without even attempting to move from his position on top of her on the floor.

He expected a rebuttal from the feisty Gryffindor golden girl but instead he followed her eyes as she looked down at her now see through, tea soaked expensive white chiffon blouse. He visibly gulped as he watched a murderous glint pass through her eyes as they bore into him.

"YOU STUPID FERRET!" she shouted as she tossed him in the air with a push of her hips, pinned him on his back and straddled him. "How dare you think I would even consider working beneath you! You arrogant, misogynistic, pig headed prick!" She exclaimed making sure to poke him in the chest with her wand after every insult.

Draco stared at her in shock, anger and awe. No man let alone woman had ever succeeded in tackling him down to the ground before. He was the reigning office wrestling champ in their gym. He can't even remember the last time a woman had spoken that lowly to him. He was Witch Weekly's Bachelor of the Year.

"You listen to me Ferret and you listen good!" Hermione continued to yell, "When I find out who sent you here I will not only give them a piece of my mind but you and him will need the entire Aurors department to protect you from my wand!"

Draco stared up into her warm brown eyes. That threat seemed liked a promise and he'd never admit it out loud but with the view up her skirt in her current position, he quite fancied the idea of her chasing him. He pulled his lips into a trade mark smirk.

"Is that a promise?" he said cockily.

"Urgh?!" She exclaimed as she raised a tiny fist in the air gearing up to punch the misogynistic pig just as she did when they were only 13.

Draco quickly covered his face with his arms. As much as he would love to avoid Grangers punches, as he knew she packed a good one, he would never so much push or put his hands on a lady. So instead he braced himself for the inevitable. When the blow didn't come he looked up to find Hermione being hoisted into the air by Harry and Ron.

"Looks like you really are going to need our protection," Harry teased.

Draco felt his face burn up with embarrassment from his position on the floor as he saw Harry , Ron, Blaise and his boss Grant laughing unabashedly.

He quickly stood up and made sure to throw Granger, who had the mind to look ashamed, a dirty look as he faced his boss.

"Sir, is this your idea of a practical joke?" Draco asked, "You can't actually suggest I work with her..." He sneered, missing the look of hurt the quickly passed across Hermione's face.

"Hey you better watch yourself Ferret." Ron defended.

"Draco, is this the type of professional you want to be known as?" Grant said putting on his authoritative tonne as Ron snorted at the word professional. "This is your chance Draco," Grant said giving Draco a knowing look. Draco felt ashamed as he understood the implications and double meaning behind what his boss and what he liked to think of as his only father figure, said. "I'm not asking you to take it. I'm demanding you to take it. Hermione is the director of this department and you are to be her partner for at least the amount of time it takes to get the legalities finished and everything set up. Now be a man you can start by taking off that coat and fixing this place up." With that Grant gave everyone a stern look that even McGonagall would be proud of and left the room.

The four 20 -something's stood quiet for a minute. They all felt a little chagrined like they had just been sent to detention.

Potter was the first to break the silence. "Well Mione you know where to find me. Me and Ron will be checking on you. Can't have you murdering someone on our floor now can we? He laughed and winked over at Malfoy.

"Goodluck Ferret!" Ron said to Draco. That term was now starting to sound like a strange endearment as he and the Golden duo grew closer. What was this world coming too? Draco thought silently to himself.

"Hermione I like a woman who knows how to straddle a man," Blaise said in his smooth Italian tonne. "Nice top by the way, see through is always the way to go in my books." And with that Blaise smirked and quickly ran back to the gym with Harry and Ron on his tail shortly after him defending their best friends honor no doubt.

Draco turned to face the only other person left in the room. Hermione was struggling to cover her chest up with her cheeks flaming red. Draco found himself doing something very un-Malfoy like as he was charmed by her sudden display of innocence. He took off his expensive suit jacket, draped it around her shoulders and fastened the first buttons effectively covering her petite frame which was drowning in his designer wear. Maybe it was the blow to his head earlier but Granger actually looked quite appealing wearing his clothes.

"So..." he started speaking as it appeared Granger was suddenly at a loss for words. "You heard the man I guess we should start fixing this place up. I know a great spell that will turn the walls a nice shade of green."

"Green?!" Hermione seemed to find her voice enough to yell. "I think not Red will be the colour of these walls!"

"Gryffindor red? Over my dead body!" Draco shouted back pretending he wasn't intimidated by her gaze. "I'm your partner and we will do as I say!"

"I think not!" Hermione yelled.

And just like that they were arguing again.


	4. Potters Poll

"Misses are you okay?" Booky timidly asked as she made her way back into the room.

"Oh I'm so sorry Booky!" Hermione gushed over to the tiny elf. "We have lots of work to do, we have to get this whole office space in order but if you'd like to take one of your two breaks now you can go ahead and do that."

"Oh no Booky told Missies I like working for Misses I don't need a break!" squeaked the tiny elf.

"That quite all right Booky I'll let you off an hour early with pay then." Hermione stated.

"Umm Granger, can I have a private moment over here please?" Draco asked.

Hermione shot the blonde a dirty look. She hoped he wasn't going to be constantly interrupting. None the less she walked over. "Yes?" she whispered.

Draco leaned in close and whispered, "Granger, you can't actually mean to tell me you hired that elf on the Ministry's pay roll?"

Hermione gave him a stern look and took a deep breath in. Uh oh Draco recognized this position from Hogwarts, she was about to live a lecture. "I'll have you know Draco that this is exactly what our department is all about, equality and safe working conditions for all magical beings. Every magical species deserves to be treated fairly. We are going to set the standards that the rest of the world will follow."

Draco sighed loosened his tie and sank on top of the old desk. He pinched the bridge of his nose. He could already feel the stress piling up. "You know there are bunches of old purebloods who will love nothing more than to see us fail if they got wind on this department."

"Well then they can bring their equality concerns here, since we'll be dealing with as well." Hermione said in a threatening tonne. "And I'll gladly give anything thick prejudiced pureblood like you, a reality check."

That last comment stung a bit. Nice to know what she thought of him, Draco thought to himself. I guess he shouldn't have been surprised. "This is no joke Granger." He warned her.

"I guess we just won't fail then." She replied.

The rest of the morning was spent in silence and hard work. With the help of Booky's elf cleaning expertise, they had the walls and book shelves restored, the wooden doors strengthened and the floors cleaned to reveal a beautiful shiny marble finish. All they needed now was a good coat of paint and some Ministry furniture.

Hermione finally broke the silence to discuss the layout of their new department. The space was an L shape. When you walked in all you could see was a large wooden desk, to the right was two large windows overlooking London and the remaining two walls were covered in book shelves.

"I'm thinking of keeping this room closed off like this instead of knocking down this wall," Hermione explained, "Either Booky or one of us can be here to greet clients, visitors and employees and these beautiful Victorian bookshelves can house all of our books and policies once were done with everything. We can create pamphlets and books for visitors to take with them to make sure they have all the guidelines they need to enforce."

Draco proceeded to follow her as she went through the arched passageway that led to the longer part of their L shaped office. Hermione went to ramble on how she wanted to keep more private filling cabinets, a couple desks, office supplies and storage back here. She walked all the way down to the end of the narrow space and reached to open the door. "Hmm I wonder where this leads," Hermione said.

Before he could warn that it leads to Potters stupid exit poll she was already tripping forward.

Instinct took over and Draco quickly grabbed her by the Hips and tossed her back into the office so she wouldn't fall down five floors. Instead he took the fall himself. As he was being knocked around the small shoot he quickly wondered why he seemed to be developing Potters hero complex, especially around the mighty book worm. However there was not enough time to think things over as he roughly grabbed onto the poll just in time for a safe landing. He stepped away from the poll with all the dignity he could muster and looked around to find himself in the Ministry cafeteria.

"Oi Malfoy!" A saucy red haired women with horrible impeccable timing walked over, "Where's my husband and brother? Don't you dolts usually lunch together?"

"Listen Red," she scowled every time he called her that, "I don't know where they are cause not only did I just save your furry headed female friend from breaking every bone in her body but I bloody took this fall down the pole."

"You're the one Hermione has to work with?" The red head gave a very Slytherin smirk, "Interesting."

Draco rolled his eyes. He quite liked the little Red and their bickering. She worked in the Ministry as head chef in the cafeteria and she had grown on him over the years. More like he had grown on her.

On queue Hermione came running out of the lift and over to them, can't be that hard to spot bleach blonde and flaming red hair in a crowd.

"Oh Malfoy I'm so sorry!" Hermione said while she began inspecting him, fixing his collar, checking his head for bumps. Draco stood their perplexed for a moment. He wasn't used to this kind of attention not even from his own mother. "Are you okay? Do you have any cuts?" Hermione rambled on while she continued to grab and prod his face for a closer inspection. Draco grabbed both of her hands in his but that didn't stop her from rambling on.

"Granger I'm fine." He said but she was still apologizing over n over and rambling something about workplace injuries being horrible for the new department.

"Granger..Granger.." Draco tried again however she continued to rant about her department meaning to be injury prevention not causing injuries.

"Hermione!" He shouted. He had never called her by her first name before and it effectively captured her attention. "I'm fine don't worry. I'm sorry I should have told you about Potters stupid exit poll."

They were both silent for a minute. If anyone would have told this story without witnessing it no one would believe. Hermione fussing over Draco and Draco apologizing was just unheard of. They both looked down to find they were still holding hands and quickly jumped apart.

"Interesting, very interesting," Ginny said causing both of them to blush and storm away.


	5. Strange Jealousy

Hey guys! Sorry for all the typos in the previous chapters I will try to edit from now on :) Please review :)

Hermione avoided Ginny's gaze as she sat at a small table for two in the furthest corner of the Ministry's Cafeteria.

"So...? Are you going to tell me or do I have to ask?" Ginny prodded.

"Your soup of the day is great Gin." Hermione said even though she knew that wasn't what she was asking.

"Oh Hermione come off it! I want to know what it's like to have the most eligible bachelor of the year assigned to be your partner. Do tell." Ginny said teasingly.

"You know it's not like that Gin. He's as arrogant as he always was. I guess some people never change. He was shocked to find out I'm working WITH him not BENEATH him." Hermione said annoyed.

"I wouldn't mind working beneath him if you know what I mean." Ginny said jokingly while wiggling her eyebrows.

"Urgh your gross, how about I go tell that to your dear husband over there. I'm sure Harry would love to hear your thoughts on sleeping with the enemy." Hermione replied.

"You seem to keep forgetting, he's not quite the enemy anymore and he hasn't been for a while." Ginny said.

Hermione followed Ginny's gaze across the room to where Harry, Ron, Blaise and Draco were eating. As much as Hermione best friends mentioned Draco turned a new leaf with them over the last couple years, it was a whole other thing to actually see them getting along willingly with her own eyes. She caught Draco's eye and quickly turned around to face Ginny.

"Plus you're looking mighty cozy in Malfoy's jacket." Ginny giggled.

"Oh, this?" Hermione said, "Actually we got into a fight over tea and it fell all over me, making my top go see through. So he gave his jacket to me. I'll admit it was an unexpectedly nice gesture."

"You see! People are three dimensional Mione." Ginny said wisely sounding a lot like her mother Molly. "Not everything is black and white, people have different sides to them sometimes you just have to get to know them better. We should go over there and give him back his jacket now that your tops dry."

"Alright I suppose." Hermione said warily.

Draco looked up as Red and Granger approached his table.

"Hey boys!" Ginny greeted as she gave Harry a peck on the cheek. "Ronald chew with your mouth closed!" She scolded.

"I am Gin!" Ron said as a piece of mashed potato unceremoniously fell out of his mouth.

"Anyways," Ginny continued as she gave Ron a disgusted look causing everyone to laugh, "Where just here to return Malfoy's jacket."

Draco noticed Blaise eyeing Granger's figure as she started to fumble with the jacket buttons.

"Yes you should return it Granger I quite liked the view your previous attire provided." Blaise said in a much too charmingly voice for Draco's taste. "How are you getting home from work today? You should allow me-"

Before Blaise could even finish his sentence some foreign instinct in Draco took over and he swiftly cut him off. "No Granger wear the jacket, you can keep it actually."

"Well, well that's rather nice of you Malfoy," Ginny said just loving the entertainment.

Draco suddenly embarrassed by his ridiculous emotions—Merlin knows where that came from—and his un-Malfoy-ish act of kindness towards the golden girl quickly came up with a snarky remark. "Well really I can't have someone who's supposed to be my business partner walking around looking like a common street walker in that horrid outfit she came in."

Hermione's large doe eyes welled up with tears. "Well I'm just going to go back to work." She said quickly and took off for the lift.

"Good one Ferret , look at what you've done now!" Ginny replied before she stormed off to tend to the kitchens.

"Ah well mate, easier for me to get her now. All I have to do is swoop in and be her Prince Charming by saving her from you." Blaise said wiggling his eyebrows.

Draco ignored the jealousy tickling his spine after hearing Blaise's words. That blow to the head must have really done a number on him.

"You will do no such thing." The blonde told his best mate.

This earned him a weird look from not only Blaise but the golden duo who were surprised to hear Malfoy defend anyone let alone Hermione.

"Uhh.. I mean... she's my business partner and ... and...we all work on the same floor I can't have anything compromising our work." Draco quickly thought up. Yes that was a much better reasoning for his feelings. Maybe he hasn't lost his mind after all.

"Sure Draco." Blaise said with a grin on his face and knowing twinkle in his eye.

"What? Spit it out" Draco demanded

"Oh nothing" Blaise chuckled.


	6. Decorations and Revelations

*One week later*

A week had passed by since the new department opened. Malfoy took a good look around his new office. He had officially tied off all his lose ends at the law department and had managed to not get into any serious arguments with Granger since the shirt incident. However things were tense. The day after his comment she returned his jacket dry cleaned and hadn't said all that much since. He wanted to apologize he really did but he already knew what she thought of him... a prejudiced evil pureblood death eater. He worked hard to overcome his past and could honestly say he held nothing but contempt and disgust for the dark lord but she'd never see that and he knew it. He saw the look she gave Potty and Weasel whenever they socialized with him and Blaise. It clearly screamed surprise, curiosity and distrust. Malfoy weren't good at apologizing anyways and although Draco was a lot of things he was no exception to that rule. He let out an audible sigh which caught the attention of the witch who'd been occupying his mind for unruly amounts of time since she decided to reappear in his life.

He turned his attention to the petite brunette. She stood there in her sensible but high black satin pump, form fitting pencil skirt and dark green dress shirt. Her soft caramel, brown hair cascaded down to her lower back in large waves and her large doe eyes looked over at him concernedly as she bit on her nail. She heard his exasperated sigh and couldn't help herself, she was concerned even for the man who ridiculed her as a child and watched her mercilessly get tortured as a cowardly confused teenager. This seemed to simultaneously irritate, attract and endear him to her. He shuddered visibly. Granger was evoking too many thoughts and feelings. Things he preferred not to think of for too long.

"You don't like what I've done to the back do you?" she said in a worried tone a look of insecurity briefly flashing across her petite features.

He'd never known Granger to be insecure about anything but I guess there were many things he never allowed himself to notice. Like her beauty, his traitorous subconscious thought.

"What?" He said snapping out of his reverie. "You finished decorating I haven't even noticed." He said more sharply than intended. Draco noticed the look of dejection on her face before she tried to hide it. Instead of basking in his own superiority he quickly fumbled about for a save

"How about you show it to me? I'm sure it looks good." He said surprising even himself.

Granger's face lit up in a gorgeous genuine smile. A smile he thought he could recall glimpsing when she was in the presence of her friends or a good book but never with him. If only his mother could see him now. She constantly tried to engage him in her love for interior decorating and he'd mope about showing not interest in the matter and always managing a quick getaway. However this very morning he found himself trailing behind Granger as she showed him the finishing touches on the place.

He let his eyes roam around the cozy warm space. There was two large gorgeous dark wood desks for each of them, professional filling cabinets, kooky looking storage contraptions and supplies and of course more books. It was very Granger he thought to himself but he didn't seem to be bothered by that. He eyed the cozy plush rugs on the floor and the large leather sofas and reclining chairs in the back near the dangerous back door he had fallen down previously. There was also a now fully decked out fire place that gave the place a homely feel. It was a very different vibe from any style he'd been accustomed to in his Malfoy upbringing. It actually felt a tad Weasley-ish and he'd never admit it out loud but he discovered in recent years he quite liked that and was always a tad envious of the homely Weasley clan if he was really being honest.

He walked to the back of the room and plopped down on the leather chair giving it an appreciative nod of acceptance as he tested out its luxuriously quality.

"Fit for a Malfoy is it?" Hermione said in a teasing voice with a small smile playing at her lips as she observed him inspecting the room like a child inspecting a new playground.

"It will do," Malfoy said smirking back. His eyes travelled to the walls and he started to take in all the details. He noticed they each had a large Victorian style telephone on their desks. He walked over to his and began to inspect the interesting marble phone. It was clearly a muggle antique and it looked pretty expensive. He didn't peg Granger for that type.

"Its called a telephone. It's a muggle communication device you don't have to keep it if you don't want..." Hermione began her worried lecture.

"I know what it is," He said effectively stopping her rant. He watched her facial expression go from worried to surprised and curious.

"I like this Victorian style. It's high class muggle. More fit for a royal Malfoy like myself. What's our numbers? " Draco smirked cockily and playfully at her. He felt victorious as he watched her mouth literally drop open. "What's wrong Granger, a pureblood like me can't study muggle things?" Draco said smugly, "Or has that hideous cat of yours finally got your tongue?"

Just on queue Crookshanks swaggered his plump body into the room.


End file.
